KUALA TERENGGANU, 16 May 2009: The Terengganu state government will continue to be helmed by Datuk Ahmad Said as the menteri besar, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
Muhyiddin, who is also Umno deputy president, said a change of menteri besar was never raised or discussed.
“Who said [there will a change in the menteri besar]? So far, I have not heard of anything like that,” he said when asked to comment on talk of a change of menteri besar in the state soon.
Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, spoke to reporters after launching the national-level Teachers’ Day celebration at the Islamic Civilisation Park in Pulau Wan Man, here.
There had been talk that several Terengganu Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblypersons had voiced dissatisfaction with Ahmad and wanted him to be replaced.
It was speculated that the BN assemblypersons would table a no-confidence vote against Ahmad in the state assembly in April. This did not happen.
However, 10 BN assemblypersons stayed away from the assembly session on the second day’s sitting after three of them claimed to have received threats via SMS.
Muhyiddin said he hoped that with his clarification, the political situation in Terengganu would improve because it was more important for Umno and the BN to be strong in the state to face the next general election.
“I hope all Umno leaders, including the elected representatives and division [chairpersons], would adopt new approaches to foster greater understanding among themselves.
“The people have given their mandate. We have to focus on developing Terengganu because the state abounds with resources. It garners much revenue and has oil,” he said. — Bernama
PM says
Well, let’s see how long this status quo can last then we will all know whether Muhyddin is lying or telling the truth. Considering that everyone in Terengganu knows that there are strong and unforgiving internal tussles within Umno in the state, my opinion is there is a lot of “spin” by Muhyiddin.